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| Subject: A Conan Doyle, circa 1920. Genuine, for certain real, not fake, Lumière KinemaColour fauxtograf™ on loan to SleuthSayers, courtesy British Museum archive collection. |
Doyle and Houdini and science and such,
Séance and fairies concern overmuch.
The words physics and psychics come to us from Greek via Latin. The spellings might seem similar, but physics in Greek related to physical things, especially nature, whereas psychics suggested soul. Forgive me, but I'm in the former camp.
My classmate Lela with kindness told me I was a ‘rational bigot’. She’s not wrong and I cherish her evaluation. When it comes to psychic phenomena, I side with the Amazing Randi: provide evidence, unambiguous proof. Unlike, well, the most highly regarded icon in our profession.
Embarrassingly, when it came to spiritualism and the supernatural, the wonderful and prolific Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was dismayingly gullible. He was so unlike Sherlock Holmes that it hardly seems credible he could so superlatively depict his coldly rational protagonist.
I mentioned the magician Randi, but Doyle was, you might be surprised to learn, once a close friend of Harry Houdini. The famed magician went to lengths to dissuade the author from his utter belief in the occult, efforts that eventually broke their friendship.
From the Mouths of Babes
Thus we set the stage for a pair of Yorkshire cousins who, aided by flitting fairies, fooled much of the adult world, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. For proof, they proffered photographs of petite figures hovering in the air.
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| 1st Cottingley photo |
To be sure, young girls have fooled adults before. The Fox sisters, Leah, Maggie, and Kate, introduced the world to séances in 1848. After a hundred eighty years and an eventual admission of fakery by one of the sisters, séances still have believers. Simply visit Cassadaga, Florida, a town of soothseekers.
Much earlier in 1692, the Salem witch trials began with antics and accusations by three pre-teen girls, 9yo Elizabeth (Betty) Parris, her cousin 11yo Abigail Williams, and Ann Putman, age 12. The latter child became a prolific inculpater who, along with a number of teenagers, over time denounced nearly half the village of practicing witchcraft. And adults believed them.
Back in England
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| 5th Cottingley photo |
The Christmas 1920 issue of The Strand carried photographs of fairies photographed by two young cousins in Cottingley, West Yorkshire, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths. There were doubters, but skeptics were few and believers were many.
A few months later, the same magazine published a followup by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It was couched as a reasonable exploration of the subject, but it’s clear Doyle not only accepted the evidence of fairies, but also supernatural phenomena in general. (As a side note, Doyle was also taken in by the Piltdown Man hoax.)
Without further ado, here’s the original article and here’s Doyle’s defence.
No fairies were harmed in the making of this article.
Even though I don’t believe in fairies, I’m setting out a dish of cookies. Just sayin’.
It’s theorized that the young girls, refugees from King William’s War which was still raging at the time, might have been suffering PTS. And Doyle turned to spiritualism after the death of his son in WW I.
ReplyDeleteI do know for a fact that the Tooth Fairy exists. I vividly remember the dime I found under my pillow when I was a child.
Edward Lodi.
Edward, I've read about the death of Doyle's son, but I didn't know the girls were refugees. That same tooth fairy visited me. She certainly got around!
DeleteAngels seem to have given way to fairies and now to space aliens. Are we afraid of being alone?
ReplyDeleteOf course we're afraid of being alone, Janice. We keep wishing for entities smarter and more capable than ourselves to save us from our own stupidity. And when we try to make them ourselves—'nuff said.
DeleteJanice and Liz, that's a fascinating idea. I hadn't considered fear of being alone but fascination, yes. Should we ever manage to visit planets outside our solar system, I hope we find someone at home who's kind to drop-in visitors.
DeletePoor Mr. Doyle. Leigh, besides his general credulity and desire to believe, his arguments seem to be based on his witnesses and experts being of good family and people he knows himself. How Victorian!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, Liz, and how honest and reliable the girls were. The girls' father+uncle knew, but he was ignored in all the hubbub. That same belief left us unprepaired for WW-II when we shut down our intelligence department on the specious idea that "gentlemen don't read gentlmen's mail."
DeleteSome years ago, I was involved as a research editor for a book commemorating a local school’s 150th anniversary. The wife of a past principal considered herself a seer and had corresponded with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Hidden in the school’s library archives, I came across some of their correspondence. Despite having held and read letters written by the great man, no messages were received from the Great Beyond. (Maybe I should have tried to lure him with biltong.)
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! But of course it required the mistress to channel the emanations. Do you happen to photograph/photocopy the materials?
Delete(For those wondering, ABA was taking a poke at me. Biltong is South Africa's equivalent of jerky, In North America, jerky is usually made from beef, but sometimes sourced from buffalo, deer, or chicken. In SA, biltong can be constituted from almost any herbivore. Biltong is so popular, that visitors might find a biltong booth at the local mall. And, by the way, I've noticed persistent YouTube adverts for jerky, a dollar a strip.)
If you happen to be in Austin, TX, any time between now and Jan. 24, you can see some of Houdini's material that he collected. His correspondence with Doyle regarding the faerie hoax is documented, as is his work debunking spiritualists as frauds. It's a fascinating exhibit. https://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/2026/houdinis-library/
ReplyDeleteI wish I could visit that exhibit! Thanks for posting this.
DeleteLeigh, if you read The Pharaoh's Curse Murders, you'll get a kick out of the fact that one of the characters is a young woman - an acclaimed psychic - called Patricia Fox! The name was an Easter Egg for anyone who knows the history you mention up front :)
ReplyDeleteHa! That's brilliant, Melodie. I had not made the connection. Thank you!
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